COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING

COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING

            Community language learning (CLL) is an approach in which students work together to develop what aspects of a language they would like to learn. The teacher acts as a counselor and a paraphrase.  While the learner acts as a collaborator, although sometimes this role can be changed.

The CLL method was developed by Charles A. Curran, a professor of psychology at Loyola University in Chicago. This method refers to two roles: that of the know-er (teacher) and student (learner). Also the method draws on the counseling metaphor and refers to these respective roles as a counselor and a client. According to Curran, a counselor helps a client understand his or her own problems better by 'capturing the essence of the clients concern ...[and] relating [the client's] affect to cognition...;' in effect, understanding the client and responding in a detached yet considerate manner.

To restate, the counselor blends what the client feels and what he is learning in order to make the experience a meaningful one. Often, this supportive role requires greater energy expenditure than an 'average' teacher.